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A teenage girl who died after becoming morbidly obese due to isolation and living in conditions “unfit for any animal” was severely neglected by her parents, a court was told.
Kaylea Titford, aged 16, weighed 22 stone 13lb, with a body mass index of 70, when she died in October 2020 at her home in Newtown, Powys, Wales.
Police found her lying in soiled clothes and bedding, Mold Crown Court was told on Wednesday.
Her mother Sarah Lloyd-Jones, 39, admitted manslaughter by gross negligence, but her father Alan Titford, 45, denies the offence.
Opening Titford’s trial, Caroline Rees KC, prosecuting, said Kayleigh had spina bifida, a back condition, and hydrocephalus, a build-up of fluid on the brain.
Kaylea had used a wheelchair from a young age, the jury was also told.
She attended Newtown High School, where she was described as “funny and chatty” by staff, but remained confined to her home after the coronavirus lockdown began in March 2020, Ms Rees said.
Kaylea lived in “misery and degradation”, she said, and when paramedics found her dead she was lying on dirty “puppy pads”, with maggots and flies on her body and milk bottles full of urine around her bed.
Ms Rees said: “Caley Titford was living in conditions unfit for any animal, let alone a vulnerable 16-year-old girl who was totally dependent on others for her care.”
Kaylea was morbidly obese, with dirty and matted hair, an unwashed body and sore skin, the court was told.
Titford told police he was ‘not a very good father’
(PA)
On the morning of October 10, 2020, Titford’s mother called 999 before paramedics arrived and discovered Kaylea’s body, the jury heard.
Police officers noticed an “unbearable” smell of rot and maggots crawling on the bed.
Ms Rees said: “The prosecution say the scene – as witnessed by those present – together with the condition in which Kaylea’s body was found, make it clear that this vulnerable girl who relied heavily on others for her social needs , has been seriously neglected by not only one but both of her parents who have a duty of care.’
She said pathologist Dr. Derrick James examined Caylee and said her physical condition suggested she had not been properly washed for many weeks.
He ruled her death was the result of “inflammation and infection in extensive areas of ulceration resulting from obesity and its complications and immobility in a girl with spina bifida and hydrocephalus”, the court heard.
Ms Rees said forensic podiatry specialist David Blake found that even the simple act of regularly changing Kayleigh’s socks appeared to have been ignored.
When Titford was questioned by police, he told them he was “not a very good father” and his wife looked after Kaylea and did the housework, the court heard.
He said his daughter has outgrown her wheelchair and he doesn’t think he’s seen her get out of bed since before the lockdown.
Titford told police the family would have takeout, including Chinese and Indian food and kebabs, five nights a week.
Asked when he last asked Kaylea how she was, he said: “I didn’t ask her. Like I said, I’m not the best of people. No one ever thinks their child will end up like this.
Titford, of Colwyn, Newtown, denies manslaughter by gross negligence and an alternative charge of causing or permitting the death of a child.
The case, which is expected to last up to four weeks, will continue on Thursday.
With additional reporting from BKP
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